Past their peak

I make no apologies for uploading yet another photo of the roses in my garden; I'm not feeling terribly creative at the moment. This blip was created at a happier and more creative time, although the photo was taken this afternoon.

One of the apps I have on my iPad is called Peak, which is a brain training app. I try to do a five minute workout on it each day to keep the little grey cells active, although my score seems to be slipping slightly of late. I’m finding it harder to hold short-term items in my memory, and my hand/eye co-ordination is slowing down, which I suppose isn’t surprising at my age. But I do enjoy trying to keep my brain fit. 

This time last year I added a creative thinking module to the app, and on one day in June it had an exercise which was intended to ‘put into practice resource limitation in order to promote creative thinking’. I was to write a poem to express what I experienced that morning, and then write a limerick to describe one of my hobbies. 

Well, it so happened that I had been out in the garden dead heading my beloved "Pretty Lady" roses that morning, and thinking how much dead heading is like outdoor housework, so when it came to writing a poem about my morning’s experience I found I already had a half formed poem in my head. The limerick also came to me quite quickly, it has to be said! I’m definitely a ‘words’ person – which my Peak scores will confirm.


Dead heading roses

Fragile petals peel off under my fingers
as I struggle to remove a spent, blown rose bloom
from the thorny stem that I’ve pulled towards me for ease of access.
They are leaving a petally carpet underfoot, which I shall allow to stay so it can decorate the earth.

For housework, it would seem, includes (for those fortunate enough
to have fertile soil round the skirts of their home)
not only dusting furniture indoors
but also removing the dust of decaying plant life
from the outdoor rooms of the house as well.

I reflect as my secateurs snip purposefully across each stem
about the second law of thermodynamics
(as one does in an English garden on a tranquil day in June)
and say a prayer of thanks that I was born with a deep love of tidiness, cleanliness and order.


Photography

I take lots of photos each day;
Some even turn out quite OK.
It’s all quite beyond me
I’m really a zombie,
I just press the shutter and pray!